Cycling - Hamilton to lose 2004 gold on Friday: IOC source

Karolos Grohmann

LONDON (Reuters) - American cyclist Tyler Hamilton will officially be stripped of his Athens 2004 Olympic gold medal on Friday as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) moves to close the case before the end of an eight-year statute of limitation, an IOC source told Reuters.

The source said a disciplinary commission would issue a final ruling on the matter after the athlete, who won the time-trial gold, admitted to doping.

"It will happen tomorrow," the source said. "The commission waited to see if there was more information coming from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that implicated other riders or their coaches from the Athens Games but there is no more coming."

Retired Russian rider Viatcheslav Ekimov is set to move up to gold with American Bobby Julich awarded silver and Michael Rogers of Australia moving up from fourth to bronze.

Hamilton was initially allowed to keep his medal in 2004, after testing positive for blood doping, because the laboratory accidentally destroyed his B sample by deep-freezing it.

The following year, Hamilton tested positive for a blood transfusion and was banned for two years.

In 2006 he was linked to the Spanish doping scandal dubbed "Operation Puerto" before testing positive for steroids three years later. He was given an eight-year ban after he said he had taken an over-the-counter treatment for depression.

In an interview last year Hamilton ended years of denials by admitting he had used performance-enhancing drugs.